Game 2014.57: Tigers 6, Red Sox 2

As my turn comes back around in the rotation I look back and see there has been all of one Tiger victory since I have last manned the DTW keyboard. In fact the Tigers haven’t won a series since the last time they played Boston, May 16-18, which seems so long ago now, before the Zubaz gear, before this awful 4-13 stretch. Maybe Boston will snap them out of it and remind them that they used to win baseball games.

Below are the days/times (in EST) and projected starters for the Boston Series:

Boston at Detroit

Friday June 6 – 7:05 Drew Smyly vs Rubby De La Rosa

Saturday June 7 – 7:15 Max Scherzer vs Jon Lester (L)

Sunday June 8 – 8:00 Anibal Sanchez vs John Lackey

As so often happens when Boston is involved, two of the games will be nationally televised: Saturday on Fox, and Sunday on ESPN, thus the different start times.

Last time the Tigers faced the Red Sox, they were a team on a roll. Sure, they had some bullpen troubles and were struggling to put a major league shortstop on the field, but that was more than made up for by great starting pitching (best in the league), and a lineup that was at the top of the league in hitting, and was also able to manufacture runs with base running and situational hitting.

Suddenly the pitching and hitting have simultaneously gone south: the bats are in the vicinity of Biloxi, MS: they have scored a league lowest 34 runs over the last 14 days, putting up an anemic BA of .233 (.649 OPS). The pitching is in Boca Raton, ranking 15th (because that’s as low as it goes) in OPS against (.836), and this time it’s the starters, with the exception of Anibal Sanchez, who has only given up one run in his last two starts.

What is to be done? Beats me. It can’t hurt to bring up Suarez and try him at short…except it did, his knee, on an awkward slide into second (there’s something for you to work on Mr. Vizquel). He is day-to-day. Is today the day? (Nope).

If the Tigers are going to get well today against the Sox, they are going to have to do it against the dreaded Young Unknown pitcher, Rubby “Cy” De La Rosa.

Best wishes from DTW to Red Sox hitting coach Greg Colbrunn, who has been hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage.

You may also like...

59 Comments

TIGERS RULE

June 6, 2014 at 4:21 pm

It looks like we would have been better off keeping the team we had at the end of last season. All these changes in players and views on how we are going to play a new type of game going forward ….. and we are going backwards.

KW

June 6, 2014 at 5:00 pm

OMG are we in the process of a redesign?! Say it is so.

jud

June 6, 2014 at 5:21 pm

Both Boston and the Tigers are elated to be playing each other…instead of someone good…we certainly don’t want to try and beat one of those darn playoff teams

I notice in the first 7 rounds of the MLB draft, DET drafted only two pitchers… and possibly even more telling, they drafted two catchers.

RE: as for these next three games, my disdain for BOS is only surpassed by the NYY – so taking 2 of 3 would be great, but the way things have been going the past 17 games, I may settle for not getting swept.

KW

June 6, 2014 at 6:24 pm

Lots of formatting issues still guys. If you need help, let me know. I’ve built a few WordPress sites in my day.

Kevin in Dallas

June 6, 2014 at 6:50 pm

Hello All – I didn’t expect our developers to make the changes on the fly. This is the first I’ve seen of it since we finalized the theme. I thought we’d go to a dev site first.

But it does look much better. Just bear with us for a few days as we work out the kinks. More to come. So long as it doesn’t upset normal posting and commenting, I’ll let it be for now.

(KW – we may definitely take you up on that).

Smoking Loon

June 6, 2014 at 7:04 pm

Well, this is interesting.

Smoking Loon

June 6, 2014 at 6:52 pm

Wow, that is some OPS-against for Tigers pitching. Don’t think I’ve seen an 8 before the decimal place there before. They must be stranding more runners than I thought.

Coleman

June 6, 2014 at 7:07 pm

I blame the developers.

Smoking Loon

June 6, 2014 at 7:03 pm

Strangely, I have a good feeling about the Avila-Jackson 5-6 thing. Don’t ask me why. It makes no sense.

80HD

June 6, 2014 at 7:10 pm

Nice re-design. Clean look. Kudos.

I’ve been reading that it might be time for BA to rant on his team for poor effort/execution but I don’t think so. It’s veteran leadership, not an ass-chewing from the manager that will lead the way out of this mess.

It would be nice to see a member of the multi-millionaires club put this team on his back and just carry it for a while. Where the hell are Al Kaline and Willie Horton (or maybe Kirk Gibson) when you need them? It’s time for someone to step up.

Whats become of players who break bats and smash water coolers when they strikeout with runners on? Sometimes these Tigers are a little too mellow for me. I’ve had enough of the “Oh well, another loss – lets get ’em tomorrow” mindset. I wish it appeared a little more often that the outcome matters as much to them as it does to me.

Coleman

June 6, 2014 at 9:37 pm

Nail-biting time. Let’s score some and make this Nathan-proof.

80HD

June 6, 2014 at 9:40 pm

You could say Victors aging well.

jud

June 6, 2014 at 9:47 pm

Jacksons 18 sac fly for his 18th RBI

Vince in MN

June 6, 2014 at 9:50 pm

Having AleKKs bat 5th worked out tonight as it gave Holaday a chance to hit there. +.5 for Ausmus.

The half full theory!
POG…Avila…gets hit in the head…Holaday triples…easily winning POG honors!!!

Kevin in Dallas

June 6, 2014 at 10:55 pm

Two comments.

1) In case you missed my post above, we’re only about 1/2 done with the redesign. Please reserve judgment for another several days. Hopefully the core functionality won’t be affected in the meantime. Seems to be okay. You’re gonna like the finished product (yes – we’re working on in comment editing!).

2) I went outside after the win to pull in the car. Smells like summer.

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi

June 7, 2014 at 6:13 pm

Very nice Kevin….remember, it’s not whether your win or lose, its how you look playing the game!

Infielder Danny Worth has accepted his outright assignment and will head to Triple-A Toledo, Chris Iott of MLive.com tweets. The Tigers designated Worth for assignment on Wednesday after he hit .167/.217/.190 in 46 plate appearances.

Vince in MN

June 7, 2014 at 4:02 pm

No surprise there. Nobody was going to sign him, so what else was he going to do? When was the last time another team claimed a Tiger that was DFA’d?

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi A good read on the Tiger's inability to work any deals during the Winter Meetings.
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2016/12/05/detroit-tigers-winter-meetings/95021824/
I have thought all was

StorminNorman$ http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/12/red-sox-to-acquire-chris-sale.html
DD still making the moves - Sale traded to BOS... the "good news", now DET will only have to

Tony de Florida Agree, without Miggy and JV attendance should go in the tank unless we're getting Trout from the Angels or Jake

Smoking Loon Stormin, in my opinion Detroit is a worse and less interesting team without Verlander and Cabrera, a team without a

StorminNorman$ word on the street is that Tiger fans should get used to mediocrity, unless some of the young players and

Tony de Florida I've been too busy to add my wisdom (please control your laughter) but have been trying to read the blog

StorminNorman$ i could see DD bringing him to BOS to replace Big Sloppy, but i doubt BOS would give up much

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi V-Mart trade talk:
http://m.tigers.mlb.com/news/article/209950064/tigers-victor-martinez-drawing-interest/
As we know, while the guy can certainly hit a baseball, he isn't the fastest thing around